Last year was brutal for stocks, with massive selloffs amid concerns over the Federal Reserve’s regime of aggressive interest-rate hikes to tame the highest inflation in four decades. To steer the U.S. economy back to its target 2% inflation, the Fed has already hiked interest rates from near-zero to the 4.25-4.50% range.
The December jobs report showed the economy gained 223,000 jobs last month, indicating that job growth is slowing but remains strong. Senior central bank officials look forward to the jobs market slackening some more and are likely to keep raising rates before we see a pivot in monetary policy.
While market pundits forecast recession in 2023 to be mild, David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, argued that rather than falling off an “economic cliff,” such a recession would be more like sliding into an “economic swamp,” implying that it could be hard for the economy to get out of it.
Additionally, the World Bank slashed its 2023 global economic growth outlook to 1.7% from its earlier projection of 3%, stating that the global economy is ‘perilously close’ to falling into recession. The bank attributed an ‘unexpectedly rapid and synchronous’ global monetary policy tightening behind its recessionary concerns.
As recession fears are running rampant, it could be wise for investors to steer clear of fundamentally weak stocks like…
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